Mike made me look so smart. :3 Thanks Mike, it makes me feel better that I was helpful to at least one person. I didn't feel like I gave a good presentation. And this writeup is great, thanks for sharing. Plus that collage is wonderful!

Mike made me look so smart. :3 Thanks Mike, it makes me feel better that I was helpful to at least one person. I didn't feel like I gave a good presentation. And this writeup is great, thanks for sharing. Plus that collage is wonderful!

This would be a great way for someone interested in different kind of switches to actually sit down with a keyboard and try it out. Usually, the only way to do that is a lot of buying and selling (or, alternatively, gathering a collection of unused keyboards and spending an incredible amount of cash).

That totally happened....dorkvader visted me last year around Christmas time and bought a beamspring for me to ruin my taste in many other keyboards try out

This is always the risk when trying something new. Personally I am not afraid that I won't like it. I am afraid that I will love it. When that happens you can bet that slowly but surely I will try to replace every keyboard I have. It already happened once with Topre, and I think it is better for everyone if that does not happen again.

"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

Just so everyone knows, the keyboard right under where it says "acoustic" is my hall effect keyboard. The actual acoustic one is the one below that Samwisekoi(I think?) is typing on: (from a typewriter! A smith corona ultrasonic that HaaTa got, if I recall correctly.)

The keyboard pictured is my hall effect which does have a lifespan of 30 billion keystrokes, but it uses magnets not acoustics.

HaaTa has the telex KB: I think the one he had at keycon was from a TI unit. Though lots of hall KBs use a second "dummy" switch as a stabilizer.

Also, the matrix sample I presented was a modern idea to achieve diode-less NKRO for these switches, I don't think I've seen it implemented in practice (most are just wired up as normal 2kro types, since they are mainly for terminal sue I doubt they send upcodes)

I am very grateful for making me seem less boring though You could use my talk as an insomnia cure.---That KB everyone signed is en route to the GH'er!

So, the 30 billion keystrokes stat is for your hall effect KB? How the hell did they even come up with that?

-Mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks for updating! First of all: credit where it's due, I got the new NKRO matrix idea from HaaTa.

Sadly, the hall effect switches are schmitt triggered and can't really be analog: you'd have to replace all the hall sensors with modern ones for that. My first plan is to replace the PCB (since a PCB is required) with a new one allowing for NKRO. First I have to learn PCB-making software though

The 30-billion number is from a "hall effect sensing and application" document published by Honeywell that I found. It focuses on non-keyboard applications of Hall Effect sensors, but when quoting for reliability, they do specifically mention that it was measured on a keyboard. You can see the PDF here. (1541 Kb, PDF)

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Long life (30 billion operations in a continuing keyboard module test program)